by Alyssa Jackson Posted 1/21/19, 12:58 pm

The partial government shutdown nearly halted an Atlanta-area celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy, as America marked the 90th birthday of the preacher, speaker, and civil rights activist Monday. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, home of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the civil rights icon preached, had closed because of the shutdown. It reopened Monday for a commemorative service with the help of a grant from Delta Air Lines.

by Lynde Langdon Posted 1/21/19, 10:19 am

UPDATE: President Donald Trump on Sunday called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., irrational after she rejected his immigration proposal that, if accepted, could have ended the monthlong partial government shutdown. Democrats “turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak. They don’t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020,” the president tweeted.

by Lynde Langdon Posted 1/19/19, 04:46 pm

Hampered by winter weather, the government shutdown, and organizational strife, the annual Women’s March drew a smaller but still sizable crowd Saturday in Washington, D.C. Anger toward President Donald Trump fueled the first march on the day after his inauguration in 2017, but the event has grown to include a variety of causes such as environmentalism, abortion advocacy, immigration reform, and race relations.

Lynde Langdon | 1/19/19, 11:17 am

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office issued a rare statement late Friday saying that a report by BuzzFeed News accusing President Donald Trump of directing his lawyer to lie to Congress contained inaccuracies. BuzzFeed claimed to have information from two anonymous sources inside the Mueller investigation who said former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen lied to Congress because the president asked him to.

Lynde Langdon | 1/18/19, 12:39 pm

The Democratic chairmen of two House committees said Friday they would investigate a report that President Donald Trump told his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress. Cohen, who is no longer the president’s attorney and is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has admitted he misled lawmakers about a real estate deal in Moscow that Trump continued to be involved in during his campaign.

Harvest Prude | 1/18/19, 11:04 am

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Thursday abruptly canceled military aircraft usage for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other congressional lawmakers who planned to depart that day for a weeklong trip to visit U.S. troops abroad. “In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate,” the president wrote in a letter to Pelosi announcing the change of plans.

Steve West | 1/17/19, 05:54 pm

South America
| Critics of Brazil’s new president unfavorably compare him to Donald Trump, but Jair Bolsonaro’s win also marks a move away from socialism and shows the rise of evangelical influence

Jamie Dean | 1/17/19, 02:27 pm

When Fabiane Maria de Jesus stopped to buy bananas on her way home from church on a May afternoon in the Brazilian resort town of Guarujá, the wife and mother of two didn’t know it would be one of the last acts of her life.

As she walked home, de Jesus tucked her Bible under one arm and offered a banana to a boy in the street. Within moments, a gang of locals descended on her, beating de Jesus to death. A crowd gathered to watch. She was 33.

Lynde Langdon | 1/17/19, 01:04 pm

The United States will develop a space-based missile defense system to protect against advanced weapons, President Donald Trump said Thursday at the Pentagon. The military needs the system because adversaries such as Russia and China are developing missiles that are harder to see, track, and defeat, said acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, who also spoke at the Pentagon review. The president said the government will do what it takes “to ensure that we can detect and destroy any missile launched against the United States anywhere, any time, any place.”

Harvest Prude | 1/17/19, 12:19 pm

WASHINGTON—Republicans pushed back against a suggestion by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that President Donald Trump postpone his State of the Union address, scheduled for Jan. 29, until the partial government shutdown ends. In a Wednesday letter, Pelosi said that the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security could not provide adequate security for the event until the government reopened. But DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday that both agencies “are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union.”